Barzanism
{{Short description|Kurdish political ideology}}
Barzanism ({{langx|ku|بارزانییەت|Barzanîyet}}){{Cite book |last=Bedraldin |first=Salah |title=The Kurdish National Movement in Syria}} is a political ideology associated with the Barzani tribe and the Barzani-dominated Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Ideology
{{Synthesis|date=December 2024}}
Barzanism comes mostly from the thoughts of Mustafa Barzani, and partially Masoud Barzani. Barzanism is a right-wing ideology, and its core principles are Kurdish nationalism, populism, republicanism, social capitalism, social justice, social conservatism, anti-communism, patriotism, and national conservatism. Despite promoting religion as a part of identity, it supports keeping the state secular.{{Cite book |last1=Gürbey |first1=Gülistan |title=Between State and Non-State: Politics and Society in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine |last2=Hofmann |first2=Sabine |last3=Seyder |first3=Ferhad Ibrahim |publisher=Springer |year=2017 |isbn=9781137601810 |page=65}}{{Cite news |title=Two leading Iraqi Kurdish parties are taken off US terrorism list |work=Middle East Eye |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/two-leading-iraqi-kurdish-parties-are-taken-us-terrorism-list |access-date=14 May 2020}}{{Cite news |date=1963-05-09 |title=Soviet Move in the Mideast |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/05/09/archives/soviet-move-in-the-mideast.html |access-date=2023-12-04 |issn=0362-4331}} Masoud Barzani and his father Mustafa Barzani both had religious upbringings, as Mustafa Barzani was the younger brother of Abd al-Salam Barzani, and the son of Sheikh Mohammad Barzani, who were known Naqshbandi sheikhs.{{Cite web |title=Sheikh Abdulsalam's vision for Kurdistan still inspires 104 years later |url=https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/141220181-amp |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.rudaw.net}}{{Cite web |title=45 years since the departure of the leader of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, Mulla Mustafa Barzani-ARK NEWS |url=https://www.arknews.net/en/node/51575 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.arknews.net |language=en}} Masoud Barzani stated that Islam and Kurdistan "are linked", and claimed that radical Jihadists had committed a "great betrayal" against Islam, which he referred to as "a religion of tolerance, love, peace, and brotherhood".{{Cite web |title=President Barzani: Religion and homeland are linked-ARK NEWS |url=https://www.arknews.net/en/node/13189 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.arknews.net |language=en}} Barzanism is a Kurdish nationalist ideology centred around Kurds, although it does not discriminate against the different ethnicities and religions, as long as they are patriotic to Kurdistan.{{Cite web |title=Kurdistan Region President reiterates 'coexistence' on Minority Rights Day |date=18 December 2022 |url=https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30234-Kurdistan-Region-President-reiterates-‘coexistence’-on-Minority-Rights-Day}}{{Cite web |title=Masrour Barzani: Diversity is at the heart of the social fabric in Kurdistan-ARK NEWS |url=https://www.arknews.net/en/node/24856 |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=www.arknews.net |language=en}} Critics of Barzanism claim it is a tribalistic ideology, but under the Barzanist KDP, the infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region was modernized, and the region attracted foreign investments, increased education, and boosted tourism.Fischbach, ed. Biographical encyclopedia of the modern Middle East and North Africa (Gale Group, 2008) p 161. In Kurdish politics, Barzanism is the traditional rival of Apoism. The rivalry between Barzanists and Apoists had escalated into armed clashes many times across different countries.{{Cite web |last=Daaboul |first=Azzam |date=2020-02-03 |title=The rivaling philosophies of Barzani and Ocalan weigh over Syria's Kurds (Timeline) |url=https://syriadirect.org/the-rivaling-philosophies-of-barzani-and-ocalan-weigh-over-syrias-kurds-timeline/ |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=Syria Direct |language=en-US}} While Barzanism is more conservative, traditionalist, religious, and ethnonationalist, Apoism is more liberal, progressive, and multicultural, and their differences were likened to that of the Republicans and Democrats in the United States, or the Erdoğanists and Kemalists in Turkey.{{Cite web |title=İki tarz-ı Kürdi siyaset: Barzanicilik ile Apoculuk |url=https://www.demokrathaber.org/iki-tarz-i-kurdi-siyaset-barzanicilik-ile-apoculuk |access-date=2024-08-11 |website=Demokrat Haber - Bağımsız, Alternatif, Özgür Haberler |language=tr}}